By MICHAEL GINGOLD
It’s a combination 25th-anniversary sequel and adaptation of the eldritch author.
Independent writer/director Chad Ferrin got in touch with the first word and photos from his latest film UNSPEAKABLE: BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP, on which he just wrapped shooting. It stars Edward Furlong, Susan Priver, Robert Miano, Ginger Lynn, Bai Ling, Steve Railsback, Elina Madison, Jennifer Drake, Cyril O’Reilly, Corey Love, Suzanne Sumner Ferry, Silvia Spross, Jerry Irons, Brandon Kirk, Elli Rahn, Timothy Muskatell, Lew Temple, Roger Garcia, Jeffrey Decker, Peter Mendoza, Craig Ng, Robert Rhine, Jon Budinoff and Kurt Bonzell. Jeff Billings served as cinematographer, Bob Sankey was production designer, Viktoriia Vlasenko was costume designer and Joe Castro handled the makeup effects.
The synopsis: “Renowned oneirologist Ambrose London [Furlong] is requested to Arkham Asylum by newly appointed Dr. Barnard [Priver] to study the strange case of James Fhelleps [Miano]. He’s a patient seemingly inhabited by the personality of Joe Slater, a denizen of the Catskill Mountains region–a primitive colonial peasant of barbaric degeneracy, who had mysteriously vanished 122 years ago. Ambrose and Barnard’s investigation takes an unexpected turn when Fhelleps/Slater is attached to London’s ‘Dream Machine,’ which releases an alien life form bent on world annihilation.”
This is Ferrin’s third venture into H.P. Lovecraft territory after 2020’s THE DEEP ONES and the upcoming THE OLD ONES (which we last reported on here), and he explains, “The film weaves characters from my debut feature UNSPEAKABLE, which I shot 25 years ago, into Lovecraft’s ‘Beyond the Wall of Sleep’ story. I had cast Roger Garcia, the star of UNSPEAKABLE, in my latest film SCALPER: NIGHT CALLER II [which hits VOD January 16 from Breaking Glass Pictures]. One day on set, he said, ‘Hey, why don’t we do a sequel to UNSPEAKABLE? You know, 25 years after the original would be great for marketing.’ I said, ‘Sure, you go find the money and we’ll crank it out.’ A month later, he called me up: ‘Chad, I got the money!’
“I sat down to write the script and the Lovecraft story popped into my head,” he continues. “Seeing as both my film and his story deal with dreams, it wrote itself. I was so happy with it that I broke my cardinal rule by sending the investor the screenplay before the check was in my hand. He was so put off by the brutality of the opening scene that he pulled out. Digging the script as much as I did, Susan Priver and Robert Miano scrambled to find other investors, they did, and here we are.” We’ll keep you posted as UNSPEAKABLE: BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP heads for its premiere and release.
